Molly Ivins, The Texas Observer columnist once famously said: “I don't so much mind that newspapers are dying --- it's watching them commit suicide that pisses me off.” Had she been alive to witness The News of the World’s (NoW) demise, the irreverent political commentator would have pulled out all stops in calling a hack a hack (given ‘hacking’ is the flavour of the season on Fleet Street).
Which brings us to another question. Would things have turned out different had NoW been headed by someone other than the marmalade-haired Rebekah Brooks? Had some bloke called Hack-neyed Storey helmed it, would it have toned down the criticism against this epic print version of The Devil Wears Prada?
I – someone who converts coffee into copy (another borrowed line) -- think not. And before this is taken to be a defence of the street where truth and veracity pay only a fleeting visit, let’s say it like it is. It would have. Because --- all talk of feminism and parity at the workplace notwithstanding --- for women in media, the glass ceiling only seems to be getting higher.
Shift the drama to India and media coverage of the lead players would put the hinterland’s ‘journals’ ---- Manohar Kahaniyan and Satya Kathayein ---- to shame. Case study one: A famous (not popular) tv journalist’s marital status and her interest in the affairs of her spouse’s disputed home state would come under heavy fire – both from right-wingers and from those afflicted with temporary sexual dysfunction at the sight of assertive females. Case study two: Then there would be sly, malicious hints dropped about a Maoist-sympathising editor having ‘compromised’ to become a name to reckon with at her feisty weekly.
Buried under the reams of newsprint rotting at the raddiwalla’s, of course, would be the years of hard work and late nights, the jibes, ribald jokes and innuendos spewing forth from colleagues, that female journalists resign themselves to.
That India has not had an Elizabeth Brenner (executive VP, Journal Communications, Associated Press) or a Katherine Weymouth (Publisher, Washington Post) speaks volumes – in banner headlines – about the country’s media. It also raises (uncomfortable) questions about the mindset – of both men and women -- that puts affiliation and networking before professionalism and merit.
Where, for every Homai Vyarawalla, Mrinal Pande or Prabha Dutt becoming a household name, 20 others give up the ‘fight’ midway. Leaving one to wonder if Paul E Schindler Jr was being cheeky or prophetic when he said, “Every word I wrote was ephemeral, as evanescent as baby's breath, and had the shelf life of fish.”
